The present invention relates generally to passenger vehicle collision protection, and more particularly but not exclusively, to antiwhiplash systems and methods reducing risks of injury due to rear end impacts.
Whiplash generally refers to neck injuries associated with cervical acceleration-deceleration of a motor vehicle passenger in the context of rear-end collisions. Specifically, as the vehicle is hit from behind, forces from the seat back compress the kyphosis of the thoracic spine which in turn axial loads the lumbar spine and the cervical spine. This loading deforms the cervical spine into an S-shape where the lower cervical spine is forced into a kyphosis while the upper cervical spine maintains a lordosis. For serious injuries, the whole cervical spine becomes hyper-extended.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has reported that approximately 2 million whiplash insurance claims are filed each year in the United States, resulting in more than $8.5 billion in insurance claims. Neck sprains and strains are the most frequent type of injury claim reported to insurance companies in the United States, comprising 25% of all injury-related claim dollars paid out by insurers each year. The institute also reported that about 10% of whiplash injuries result in long-term medical problems. Thus the economic cost alone is high without regard to physical pain and impairments, particularly considering that not all injuries are claimed and directly counted.
Conventional primary solutions include use of properly adjusted headrests and properly angled seats. One solution includes use of a lever mechanism to mechanically adjust a headrest. The seat includes the lever that responds to a passenger being forced back into the seat by rotating about a pivot that in turn adjusts the headrest forward. A relatively complicated system that has limits to its adjustability and scalability while adding costs.
While certain types of passenger safety systems are used for other impacts (e.g., high pressure airbags for front and side collisions) they are not suitable for rear end collision as such devices could actually cause or exacerbate the very injury to be protected against. This is due to the relatively high deployment speeds and pressures arising from detonation of such airbags.
What is needed is an apparatus and method for simply and efficiently reducing whiplash injuries that could result from a rear end impact to a passenger vehicle.